Playing baseball in New York is different than playing in any other city in the country. The sheer amount of media and attention players get has the affect of building a player to greatness or tearing him down to nothing.
We’ve seen common veterans like David Wells pitch a perfect game. We've seen Paul O’Neill, a corner outfielder who previously had about a .260 career batting average, win a batting title and lead the team to greatness.
We’ve also seen Ed Whitson, Kenny Rogers, Jeff Weaver, Javier Vazquez, and Carl Pavano—pitchers with good track records and great potential—come in here and wither in the heat.
Now Blue Jays manager John Gibbons says that the only thing the Yankees need to worry about now is that same pressure that got to some of the top pitchers in the game getting to AJ Burnett.
“That’s the only thing you don’t know. New York is different from any other place to play,” Gibbons, an ex-Met catcher, told the New York Post.
This is a serious concern. How good could Randy Johnson have been had he not had that run-in with the TV cameraman that first winter with New York? That seemed to set the tone for his entire time with the team, both on and off the field.
During the past week, it was said that part of the reason Burnett turned down a chance to pitch in Atlanta over New York was because he didn’t need to be the ace up here.
He is also coming from Toronto, which isn’t exactly a media spotlight, where he pitched behind the great Roy Halladay. Even in Florida, he was overshadowed by Josh Beckett, Carl Pavano, and Dontrelle Willis.
What happens the first time Burnett slips and goes on the DL, and fans see images of Pavano? And could you imagine if he spent time on the DL down the stretch with the Yankees fighting tooth and nail for a playoff spot?
If that happens, he might just end up in Atlanta after all.
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